


more adventurous

by Skylark



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 21:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17795393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylark/pseuds/Skylark
Summary: Soulmarks arose when you were ready for them, Green knew.





	more adventurous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DragonBandit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonBandit/gifts).



> For DNftST #94, "Soul." Title is from Rilo Kiley's song of the same name.

Soulmarks arose when you were ready for them, Green knew.

Not after you met whoever it was you were destined for; not when you longed for one. They came when you were ready, and that meant that many people never developed them at all. People who had them were seen as stable and trustworthy; it would have helped Green a lot if he could have checked "Yes" next to the _Do you have a soulmark?_ question on the gym leader application form. But he was 22 now, and staring in shock—and some resignation—at the new mark above his heart.

He swiped at the steam-limned mirror, hoping it would change when he could see it more clearly. It only made the details stand out in sharper relief: a poppy in vivid red, petals curling.

He came out the bathroom with barely a pause to wrap a towel around his waist first. Red looked up from his video game when the door slammed open. He felt the moment his gaze snagged on the mark and stayed there.

"Did you know?" he demanded.

Silently Red pulled his shirt up, showing an evergreen branch splayed across his left pectoral.

Green stared at the mark and then at Red's face, his mind racing. Thinking back, it had been years since Red had gone shirtless around him, but he hadn't noticed at the time. How long had it been, really?

Red's eyes lowered, his lashes fluttering. "Sixteen," he murmured, reading him as easily as he read any of his pokémon.

Green took a clumsy step forward and fell onto the couch beside him. He stared at the paused video game on the TV, not really seeing it. "Six years?"

Red didn't move away, but his body was tense. "I guess."

Green looked down at his hands, and then reached up to touch it. He could see it, the red an unignorable blaze, but beneath his fingers his skin felt the same as it always did. "Did you know it was me?"

Red nodded. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah." He'd known at once; he knew it couldn't be anyone else.

There was a pause, and then Green scrubbed a hand through his wet hair. "I always wondered," Green muttered. "I was kind of glad I didn't have one. It meant—it meant I didn't have to think about it. But I thought, maybe if it was someone I didn't know—I used to think sometimes, what kind of husband would I be? What kind of life would I have, with a soulmate?"

Red didn't reply, just fiddled with the controller in his hands.

"I always knew it would be you," Green admitted, barely above a whisper. "I just, I don't know. I was hoping it wouldn't be."

"What changed?"

Green was rubbing at the mark, watching his skin dimple and pull under the pressure. "The weather report yesterday, it said it was going to be snowing really hard in the evening, and my first thought was 'I hope Red gets home all right.' And it was such a—small thing. But you were the first one I thought of. And I realized that meant something. That you'd always meant something. It's just that I can...admit it, now."

Red let out a shuddering sigh, his fingers clutching white-knuckled on the controller. Green bowed his head, thinking that the poppy for all its brilliance was the same color as Red's jacket, faded after eleven years of wear.

"Waiting for me must have sucked," Green said.

Red nodded, a small jerk of his head. His shoulders were hunched around his ears.

"I love you," Green said, testing the words on his tongue, and Red's breath hitched. The small sound crumbled the last of Green's hesitation; "For the love of—come here already."

Red leaned into him, eyes closed as Green wrapped an arm around his shoulders. His lips were slightly parted as he took soft, slow breaths. It felt right, their sides pressed together. Green couldn't remember the last time he felt so certain about something.

"I guess I have a lot to make up for," Green said. "But at least, from now on, we'll have time."

**Author's Note:**

> Poppy - deep and passionate love; success; beauty; remembrance; consolation  
> Pine - hope; pity


End file.
